Chocolate Banana freeze

It has been a new challenge learning to make things gluten-free.  It has already proven to be helpful but it is much more time consuming at this point.  Starting with the planning as well as the execution.  There are tons of websites and blogs on the subject and I'm researching as many of them as I can.  I like a challenge and I like to learn new skills so all of this is definitely something that has me excited.  Not to mention the health benefits! 

This dessert is one of those that came to mind from all of the web browsing that I was doing.  So many recipes "out there" talk about using frozen bananas and making some kind of ice cream or frozen dessert.  At the grocery store I found some coconut flavored dessert tofu.  I decided that it needed to be tried and this was the time to use it.  It tastes pretty well on its own actually which surprised me.  I didn't really have a recipe so to speak for this - I just tried to put things together that sounded good and I was craving some kind of ice cream like substance :)

I also didn't want to take too much time so I used the blender, then put it into a covered plastic container and into the freezer for a half hour or so. 

The coconut tofu was separated into 2 "wells" I guess you could call it within the package and I used about half of one of them.  Then I added 1 frozen banana, sliced up, 2 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, and coconut milk.  The milk was just enough to nearly cover the bananas in the blender.  Then I let it all come together fully.  It was a bit runnier than I expected so I might have added a bit too much of the milk.  But once it froze it was delicious.  It had a good amount of chocolate, however, I might add a little more next time.  The banana flavor was very strong and the coconut flavor seemed to come mostly from the milk.  I think the tofu was so light and mild that it added some thickening but not a lot of flavor. 

All in all, I like this and would make it again - I think it would be good as a popsicle in the summer!

Sweet sixteen with other odds & ends

I can't believe how long it's been since I've actually been able to be in the kitchen baking. It seems like January turned into a month of family obligations as well as unexpected travel.

I did get to drive all the way down the Eastern Coast of the United States helping my daughter move to Wellington Florida though and I'd be happy to see that sunshine again! It was a wonderful break from the cloudy skies of the Pacific Northwest in winter.

Here are a few pictures of some things I did get to bake in the middle of all the hustle and bustle:

Christmas treats and treats and treats

It's been such a crazy time getting all the baking done for Christmas as well as 2 different college graduation parties for Sydney. We had 5 events over 5 days in a row! I'm just now starting to feel a little rested just in time to get the new year started :)

Cream Puffs

I've almost made it to the end.  Actually this is technically the end of the Alton Brown book - Pate a choux; otherwise known as cream puffs.  I've wanted to try this recipe for a very long time and I was so excited when I first read through this book and found it at the end.  It is the very last recipe.  I don't know why, but cream puffs are so fascinating.  They just seem like a little bit of magic I guess.  I was nervous, not going to lie, when I dove into this.  I didn't want to be the one who couldn't get the dough to "puff up" into the little heavenly pillows they should be.  So I set out on my quest with the utmost care, getting all of my supplies ready to go before I began.  I had it in my head that it was a timing thing and if I didn't have something ready it all might fail.  It didn't work that way, but it's always better to be prepared anyway. 

Making the dough begins a lot like making gravy - except the goal of a good gravy is to be without lumps - this was to get it to all form one big lump!  Goal one, complete.

 

On the cooking shows I've watched where they have made this - I've only seen everyone mix in the eggs by hand with a wooden spoon.  I was very happy to see that Mr. Brown suggested using the stand mixer; whew!

 

 

I mixed them one at a time and came up with a nice, smooth consistency.  Then put it into a pastry bag.  Next time I might try a larger tip, but it all seemed to work ok.

 

 

Ok, so a cream puff is actually a bit bigger and these would technically be considered profiteroles but who's really worried about that.  If I would have piped them out in lines I would have gotten eclairs :)

 

Since it is the steam within the dough that creates the "magic" I knew better than to open the oven door to check on the progress while these little guys baked.  But I wanted to so bad!  I kept looking through the glass but I couldn't tell if they were setting up so they wouldn't all fall once the timer went off and I did open the door.

 

But - yea! it worked!!

 

 

 

I'm so excited!  I have a party coming up and these are definitely going to be showing up on the dessert table!  I didn't have any pastry cream ready to go (and I'll be making some for sure) but I did have some chocolate butter cream and it made for a very nice substitute in a pinch.  The only bad side to any of these little guys is that they are so light and fluffy you can really throw a few back before you realize how many you've had.  Reminds me of the "Happy Days" episode where Ritchie was only drinking those tiny little glasses - 72 of them :)  Good thing I didn't go quite that crazy!

 

As I said in the beginning, this is the last recipe in "I'm just here for more food" but I still have several recipes to go back to because I didn't have the right pans (souffle) or I had a need to make something that was coming up so I just moved along.  So I'll be tying up some of those loose ends, but there aren't too many.  I'm almost done - I can feel the knowlege, it's starting to get a little crowded in the gray matter.  I'm loving it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skittles cake, Sherlock and more

There were skittles baked into the cake too

from the TV series "Sherlock"

little cake is the "smash" cake for the baby

 

Truffles and Fudge

It's funny how sometimes calling something a fun name can make it seem like something so much more fancy.  When I was growing up peanut butter balls made their appearance during the holidays pretty regularly, but now they are called truffles.  Ooh la la.  They do look nice all dressed up with some chocolate drizzles though.  The orange ones are oreo truffles (mmhmm, did it again).  I've tasted them before

Cheesecake - oh yes!

I have to admit, I put this off for a while.  It intimidated me.  I've heard way too many stories of how hard it is to get right, plus, frankly it's not really one of my favorite desserts.  Then add to it that it's also somehow - common.  I know that sounds like an oxymoron - complicated yet common, but it's true.  Every restaurant seems to have a version on their menu, whether good or bad it seems to show up at potlucks, family gatherings and parties all the time. 

But as I was reading through the custard section and Alton Brown stated "(cheesecake is) Significant because if you can consistently make good ones, fame shall be yours and strangers will bow low when you walk by." I must admit that I was a little more inspired to become good at making them. 

It seemed like the process was actually fairly simple but the trick is to do each step perfectly.  A fine challenge.  So I began. . .